


Lucy and the Tigers

by colormetherainbow (orphan_account)



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, KIND of canon, Post-Tartaros Arc (Fairy Tail), might have slow updates sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-06-11 09:25:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15312468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/colormetherainbow
Summary: After the war with Tartaros and Fairy Tail's disbandment, Lucy is both without a guild and without jobs. Enter Sabertooth: the guild of the Tigers. They welcome her with open arms, and she proves to be an excellent addition to their guild. But when an opportunity comes knocking, will Lucy have the heart to leave Sabertooth? **Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima**





	1. Chapter 1

Lucy Heartfilia walked around Magnolia, making a small list of things she had to do. At the top of the list was “pay my rent,” and that was proving hard to do since Fairy Tail disbanded.

“Oh man, what am I going to do for rent money?” she moaned.

She lowered her head in defeat. “Fairy Tail is gone, Natsu and Happy are gone, and I'm broke. What am I going to do?”

She sat down in the park and thought over her dilemma. _I could always do modeling work for Sorcerer Weekly, but there's no guarantee that it will work._

“Lucy?”

She turned and looked to see who had said her name, and saw Yukino Aguria from the Sabertooth guild. Lucy stood up to greet her.

“Yukino! How have you been?”

“I've been great! I'm just passing through. Everyone at Sabertooth heard about Fairy Tail disbanding. It came as a shock to us all. But I guess it came as a bigger shock to you guys, huh?” she said.

“Yeah. I mean, first Natsu and Happy left to go training, then Fairy Tail too… it's like I lost my family,” Lucy admitted.

“I know how you feel.”

Lucy sniffled. “I'm sorry. I don’t mean to make you feel sorry for me.”

“It's okay,” Yukino told her. “You know what? I have an idea. Why don't you come back to Sabertooth with me?”

Lucy looked at her, mouth open. She knew that some of her Fairy Tail guildmates had joined other guilds, but her becoming a member of Sabertooth seemed absurd. But she missed the camaraderie that she had while she was in Fairy Tail. How could she say no?

“Sure!”

“Awesome! I know Sting and Rogue would love having you as a member!”

“I’d love to be a member!” Lucy said. She gave Yukino a small smile.

“Yukino, what are you doing?” someone called out. Lucy looked up and saw Minerva Orland behind Yukino.

“Milady!” Yukino said.

Lucy looked away. Just a few months ago, Minerva had tortured her during the Grand Magic Games. Fairy Tail ended up winning the Games, but Master Makarov chose to disband Fairy Tail after their war with the dark guild Tartaros, the remaining member of the Baram Alliance.

“Lucy!” Minerva said. “What are you doing here?”

“Just thinking,” she said.

“Lucy’s thinking of joining Sabertooth, Milady!” Yukino said.

“Well, let’s just take her back to the guild with us,” Minerva smiled. 

Lucy stared. “Really?”

“Of course.”

Lucy smiled and stood up. “Okay. Let’s go.”

As the three ladies began walking down the street, Lucy began to feel a sense of companionship. It wasn’t _quite_ like what she felt when she was in Fairy Tail, but it was a start.

 

* * *

 

“We’re back!” Minerva announced, walking into the Sabertooth guild hall. “And we found a friend!” Yukino followed her, laughing.

Lucy was in awe at the sprawling guild hall. She looked around and saw many members laughing and talking with each other. _Their guild is so different from Fairy Tail._

“Lucy?”

Lucy looked around Yukino and Minerva to see Rogue Cheney. The Shadow Dragon Slayer was busy sorting through new job requests. His Exceed, Frosch, was beside him.

“It _is_ you!” Rogue exclaimed. He jumped up and ran over to her. “Is it true about Fairy Tail?”

“Rogue!” Minerva said, smacking the back of his head. “If it wasn’t true, why else would she be here?”

“You mean you’ve come to join Sabertooth?” Rogue asked.

Lucy nodded. “Everyone’s gone their separate ways. Even Natsu and Happy are gone.”

Rogue pondered this for a moment. “Well… I’m okay with it, but let’s find Sting before we give you your guild mark.”

“Find me for what?” a voice said suddenly. Sting Eucliffe came up to them then.

“Oh, hi Sting! I mean, Master,” Yukino said.

“Stop calling me Master,” he said. “What am I needed for?”

“Lucy here wants to join Sabertooth,” Rogue said.

“Fine with me!” Sting said. He looked at Lucy. “So it’s true then? Fairy Tail disbanded?”

“Yeah,” Lucy said.

“Where’s Natsu? Did he come with you?” Sting asked.

“She said he left to go train,” Rogue said.

“He doesn’t even know the guild has disbanded yet,” Lucy said. “The decision came the day after he left.”

“So he’s going to come back to no guild?” Sting said.

“Yeah.”

“Lucy, let’s go get your Sabertooth guild mark!” Yukino said. She grabbed Lucy’s hand and led her over to the bar. “Where would you like it?”

Lucy held up the hand where her Fairy Tail guild mark was. “Here.”

“Are you sure?”

Lucy nodded. “Yeah. I mean, Fairy Tail isn’t a guild anymore.”

As Yukino put the Sabertooth guild mark on the back of Lucy’s hand, Sting came over to her. “So I see you’ve finally gotten marked up.”

“Yeah,” Lucy said, looking at the pink Sabertooth mark on the back of her hand. She felt a sense of emptiness.

“Where did Rogue go, Master Sting?” Yukino asked.

“How many times do I have to keep asking you to quit calling me ‘Master’?” Sting said. “Anyways, Rogue went to find Minerva. He said he wanted to talk to her about something.”

Lucy looked back and forth between Sting and Yukino and could see that there was a silent conversation going on between them. Before she could say anything, Rogue and Minerva came up to them then, with Frosch and Lector in tow.

“Lucy, we’ve decided to have an eating contest to celebrate your joining Sabertooth!” Minerva announced. “And you are going to compete - no ‘ifs,’ ‘ands,’ or ‘buts’!”

Lucy gasped. “Really?”

“Alright! Now I get a chance to beat Minerva!” Sting said eagerly.

“She’ll wipe the floor with you,” Rogue said.

“Why do you have to be so mean?” Sting sat down at the bar. “Anyways, let’s have a party to celebrate you joining!”

“Isn’t the eating contest celebration enough?” Lucy asked.

“No way! That’s just a cause for us to go all out!” Sting said, grinning.

“So it’s true. You’ve come to Sabertooth, after all, Lucy,” someone said from behind her. Lucy turned around and saw Rufus Lore. “Welcome to the guild. Orga would come over and welcome you, but he’s a bit busy right now.”

“That’s okay. Thank you all for the warm welcome,” Lucy said. She meant it; she missed being around friends.


	2. Chapter 2

Lucy sat and concentrated. She wanted to prove to Natsu when he came back that she had gotten stronger as well. She steadied her breathing and focused on the nature around her.

“Hey, Lucy!”

 _Aw, man,_ she thought. She turned in the direction where she heard her name being called from and saw Sting walking toward her. She stood up and dusted herself off.

“Hey Sting, what's up?” she called back to him.

“I came to get you for the eating competition. It's going to start soon,” he told her.

“Oh, man,” she said. “I was kind of hoping training would get me out of it.”

“Nope. Sorry. Milady wouldn’t be too happy if you missed out on it.”

Lucy sighed. “Guess I have no choice.”

Sting smirked. Lucy had only been in Sabertooth for two weeks, but she had been fitting in just fine. Anytime she seemed down she would disappear for an hour or two and come back happy. _When she leaves, she must be going off to train,_ Sting thought.

As they walked to the Sabertooth guild hall, Sting tried to make small talk. “What kind of training were you doing?”

“It was to help increase my magic power,” Lucy explained. “Usually Capricorn would give me some advice, but he wanted me to try it on my own.”

“Is there a reason for the training?”

“I want to prove to Natsu that I didn’t spend my time doing nothing,” she said. “I want to prove that I don’t need his protection all the time.”

“Hey, Lucy! You’re sitting over here!” Minerva called, interrupting their conversation. A table had been set up in the central part of the guild, and five chairs sat behind it. At a second table, plates of food sat waiting for each of them. Lucy’s stomach growled.

“Lucy you’re sitting in the middle. Yukino is on your right and Sting is on your left.”

As they all sat down, Lucy began to feel a sense of foreboding. _I’m going to regret this; I just know I will._

“Now for the rules: You can’t use magic. You can’t summon any spirits to help you eat. And you can’t have your cats help you eat either,” Rufus said. “We had to add that one.”

“Aww,” Frosch said.

“Okay. If we’re going to do this, then let’s get it started with!” Orga said. Everyone cheered.

 

* * *

 

“I’m so full!” Lucy moaned.

“You did well against us, Lucy,” Sting said. “I still beat you though.”

“Yeah. Nice job,” she said, smiling.

“Hey Sting, it’s time to go,” Rogue said, coming up to them.

Sting pushed his chair back. “Already?”

“Yeah. If we don’t hurry and go, then we won’t get done before dark.”

“Okay, fine.” Sting stood up and looked over at Minerva and Yukino. “Are you guys coming or not?”

“I suppose I’ll have to come along, to make sure you two don’t injure yourselves,” Minerva said. “Yukino, what about you?”

“Sure. But my spirits aren’t combat-oriented, so I wouldn’t be much help,” Yukino said.

“Why don’t I come along?” Lucy said. “I’m sure I have a spirit that can help out.”

“Yeah!” Sting said. “Do you have any that are good at helping people train?”

“Capricorn helps me train,” Lucy said.

“Sting, we can’t take full advantage of Lucy’s spirits,” Rogue said.

“Oh, sorry,” Sting laughed, rubbing the top of his head. “Anyways, let’s head on out back.”

Lucy followed them outside to a dirt practice field and sat down beside Yukino on a bench. She watched as Sting and Rogue took up positions on either side of the field, and Minerva stood on the side in the middle. Other guild members streamed out from inside and gathered around the field.

“You both know the rules: no maiming, no killing, no use of magic. This is just a combat practice, lasting for five minutes. Ready? Go!”

Lucy watched as Sting lunged in first and went to punch Rogue, but missed him. A blow to his stomach sent Sting flying past Lucy, who turned to look at him.

“Are their combat practices _always_ like this?” she asked Yukino.

She nodded. “Look, Sting’s going in for another hit.”

Sure enough, Sting swung his leg high and brought it down onto Rogue’s left shoulder. Rogue grabbed his shoulder.

“Hold up, hold up,” he said.

“Sorry,” Sting said, walking over to him. “Did I hurt you?”

“No, it’s fine,” Rogue said, rolling his shoulder. “You just hit my collarbone.”

“Okay, I’m stopping this fight,” Minerva said. “Rogue, go sit down. I’m taking over as Sting’s opponent.” She walked over to where Sting was standing and faced him. “And the rules remain the same: no maiming, no killing, and no use of magic.”

Sting laughed nervously. “We all know you’ll win this, milady.”

“Oh really?” Minerva asked. “There’s no harm in trying. After all, this is just a practice fight.”

Rogue stepped up in between them. “Take your places!” he yelled out.

Sting shifted his back foot; he had to be ready to dodge. _Milady will attack first, just like a tiger_ , he thought to himself. He was overanalyzing his opponent, which only happened when his opponent was Minerva.

“Go!” Rogue yelled and backed away. His right hand was holding his shoulder, and Yukino brought him an ice pack. He put it over his collarbone and sat down beside Lucy.

“You really should go get that checked out,” she told him.

“I will,” he told her. “Once they stop.”

Lucy turned her attention back to the fight, which saw Sting being easily overpowered by Minerva. After a few minutes, Minerva crossed her arms. “This is completely useless,” she said. “You aren’t even trying.”

“Yes, I am!” Sting yelled.

“You aren’t even out of breath.”

Lucy stood up. “Since you guys have stopped your fight, can we take Rogue to get his shoulder looked at?” Lucy asked.

“Yeah, sure.” Sting walked over to Rogue. “Let’s go find the town’s doctor and get you checked out.”

As they walked out of the practice field, Sting folded his arms behind his head. He looked over at Rogue, who winced as he tried to move his shoulder. “I’m sorry about your shoulder,” he said.

“It’ll be fine,” Rogue said. “Why are you trying to show off for Lucy?”

“I’m not,” Sting said, a little too quickly.

“Please. You went all out on me, but went easy on Minerva,” Rogue pointed out. “If it were Orga or Rufus that stepped in, you’d go all out on them.”

Sting looked back at Lucy. She was walking with Yukino and Minerva. “It’s not that I was showing off, it’s that I was trying to welcome her to the guild.”

“Uh huh. Yeah, that’s it,” Rogue said.

Further back, Lucy was talking with Yukino and Minerva. “Do you guys think Rogue’s shoulder will be okay?”

“He’ll be fine,” Minerva said. “No need to worry about him.”

“He’s had injuries like this before,” Yukino assured her. “They weren’t nothing to him.”

Lucy looked ahead at the two dragon slayers, and couldn’t help but worry about Rogue. She noticed Sting looking at her and looked down quickly. _Why was he looking at me?_ Was _he looking at me?_

“We need to hurry if we’re going with them about Rogue’s arm!” Yukino said, running ahead.

Lucy and Minerva followed her, laughing. Lucy was beginning to like being a member of the Sabertooth guild more and more.


End file.
